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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24573856">Welcome to the club</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollitt/pseuds/pollitt'>pollitt</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>I Ran All the Way Home [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>IT (Movies - Muschietti), Stand By Me (1986)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Chris Chambers Lives, Crossover, Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Stephen King is the source so the worlds are all connected</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:21:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>985</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24573856</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollitt/pseuds/pollitt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><em>For a guy who made his living standing in front of strangers and who’d run into his fair share of celebrities while they stood in line at the coffee shops pretending they all like coffee that tastes like burnt ham, Richie was surprised how nervous he was to meet a guy who most people probably wouldn’t be able to pick out of a line-up, despite his having over a dozen New York Times best-selling titles. </em><br/> <br/>Richie Tozier meets Gordie Lachance with the very much alive Eddie and Chris at their sides.</p><p>(aka Richie and Eddie finally meet Gordie and Chris and the King universe collides.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chris Chambers/Gordie LaChance, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>I Ran All the Way Home [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1636141</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Welcome to the club</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I highly encourage you to read the previous two stories in this series <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/21844927/chapters/52133251">Not if I see you first</a> and <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22757530">Wherever that takes you</a> so this makes sense :)</p><p>Thank you to Data for the cheerlead and for encouraging for more in this universe. And to dogeared for the beta and comma wrangling.<br/> </p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/pennylessclown/status/1269343876051066881">Fanart of the meeting of the four by blorbe</a> ♥♥</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It all started with a softball question in <em>Vanity Fair</em> when Richie was promoting his newest special/obligatory post-coming-out interview.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <strong>Q: You grew up with Bill Denbrough; in fact he wrote a character based on you. Are you a fan of his books, and what kind of books do you usually read?</strong>
  </p>
  <p><strong>Tozier:</strong> I mean, do you think I'm going to say I'm not a fan? Of course I am. And the nice thing about being friends with the person who's writing about you is you usually come out sounding pretty decent. Or at least less of a dumbass than you are. And Bill’s learning how to stick the landing for his books now. [<em>laughter</em>] And as for what books I read, I don't read as much as I probably should. Which Eddie tells me pretty regularly. I mean, I like the airport books, they usually keep me entertained when I’m traveling for shows, and I don’t have to waste any brain cells thinking about them too much. But my desert island book is definitely <em>I Ran All the Way Home</em> [by Gordon Lachance]. It was one of those books that I probably read far too young, and I know I missed a lot. But it’s a story of 13-year-old boys on an adventure to find a dead body -- it’s gross and it’s cool and my friends and I had been through some rough stuff together, and the story was a weird comfort. I read it again a couple years ago, and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much, I just needed something to take my mind off what was going on [Kaspbrak’s near-fatal accident], but it was still good as I remembered. And then I found out it was based on something that happened in [Lachance’s] life, and in his 40s he fell in love, well, re-fell in love, with his childhood best friend, a guy who’d almost died after having been stabbed… Let’s just say I related.</p>
</blockquote><p>From there came an article about Gordon Lachance and his books, an interview with the man himself where he namechecked Richie’s <em>Welcome to the Losers Club</em>, and then a pitch for asking if they would be interested interviewing one another for one of VF’s interview series.</p><p>Which was how he found himself in a studio, staring at a white backdrop and two director's chairs while various people worked on setting up the lights and camera and sound and Eddie was somewhere, probably making sure there wasn’t anything cashew-related at the craft services. Which there shouldn’t be—Richie had underlined and bolded that in his reply to the interview request.  </p><p>For a guy who made his living standing in front of strangers and who’d run into his fair share of celebrities while they stood in line at the coffee shops pretending they all like coffee that tastes like burnt ham, Richie was surprised how nervous he was to meet a guy who most people probably wouldn’t be able to pick out of a line-up, despite his having over a dozen <em>New York Times</em> best-selling titles (including two that were back on the paperback list. Richie liked to think that was in no small part thanks to him and wanted to call it the “Lachancissance,” but Eddie had struck that down with a hard no).</p><p>“Richie Tozier,” a voice said, and Richie turned around to see a man approaching him. His hair and beard were more salt than pepper, but that smile was the same as the one from the back of Richie’s book. Gordie Lachance held out his hand. “The trash mouth of the Losers Club.”</p><p>“Gordie Lachance, who has the biggest one in four counties,” Richie laughed, taking the offered hand. “I didn’t see this coming when I gave that interview, but it’s really fucking cool to meet you, Mr. Lachance.”</p><p>“Please, call me Gordie. It’s pretty fucking cool to meet you too, and I’m not just saying that because my next royalty check is going to be a nice one.”</p><p>“Even after my 10 percent cut, Gordie.” Richie felt his earlier tension leaving, replaced by a weird bubble of emotion that bobbed between his stomach and his chest, and true to his brand, he kept talking. “Before we get on camera, I just wanted to tell you how much your Author’s Note meant to me. I don’t think I read it when I was a teenager, if I did it probably would’ve freaked me out. But two years ago I was sitting in a hospital room in an uncomfortable chair with the love of my life--even if he didn't know he was yet--hooked up to every machine possible to keep him alive, and you mentioned Chris survived. It made me feel less alone. It gave me hope."</p><p>Gordie’s hand squeezed his tighter, and Richie realized he’d never let go before opening an emotional vein to a virtual stranger, even though Gordie Lachance didn't feel like a stranger. “Oh, hey, sorry,” he said, dropping his hand… Which was almost immediately claimed by Eddie, who had joined them. </p><p>“Sap,” Eddie said, squeezing Richie’s hand and sounding suspiciously congested.</p><p>"I take it you're said love of his life?" Gordie said, looking at Eddie with a smile. </p><p>"I am, yeah. Eddie Kaspbrak." Eddie held out his free hand.</p><p>"It's a pleasure." Gordie looked over and nodded at a man with grey streaked hair and a smirk teasing the corner of his mouth who walked up to Gordie’s side. </p><p>“They have Pez in a bowl over there. All cherry,” Chris Chambers said, handing Gordie a cup of coffee. “Someone read wikipedia last night. Or they were big Vern fans.”</p><p>“I give them an A for effort.” Gordie pointed at them as he spoke. “Richie, Eddie, this is mine, Chris.”</p><p>"Hey," Chris said, taking Eddie's hand. "Congrats on not dying."</p><p>"Thanks," Eddie laughed and shook Chris's hand. "You too."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>No, seriously, go and give much love to <a href="https://twitter.com/pennylessclown/status/1269343876051066881">this art by blorbe</a> ♥♥</p></blockquote></div></div>
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